Adventures on Planet Orlon: Primordial Origins
by Dinogirl23
Summary: From the tiniest cell to the largest space-faring empire, every creature has a story. When a cell's meteor crashes into planet Orlon, her species must learn to survive. Follow Noog as she braves battering currents, dodges ruthless predators and faces evolutionary competition on the path to sentience. Rated K plus for minor animal violence.
1. Prologue

**Hello, and welcome to Adventures on Planet Orlon, my first Spore story! This prologue will help set the mood and introduce the setting, before I get to the _really_ good stuff.**

**So I'll shut up and you just read! **

* * *

The Spore Galaxy. The only spiral galaxy within a community of star clusters. Here, many species flourish and thrive, and a large portion of them can become sentient life.

Now picture this: The entire galaxy contains over half a million stars. Therefore, each of the galaxy's arms contains about one hundred thousand stars. And in one of the arms, amongst those thousands of stars, is just one lone star. Just one tiny grain of sand in the huge galactic beach. It is seperate and distinct from the others, but still part of one whole.

And this particular star's name is Ceialoa.

But it is not alone; it is actually the Ceialoa star system, home of the planets Didemoe, Nause, Athysson, and Orlon.

Didemoe is a sky-blue, ringed gas giant, orbiting farthest away from Ceialoa. A little closer in is Nause, the rocky planet encased in a permanent layer of ice. Even closer is the chilly T1 planet Athysson, only supporting two kinds of plants: the small plant Hijinish and the large plant Ascheldimpf. And last but not least, the closest planet to Ceialoa, Orlon, is a lush T3 planet overflowing with life, with its T0 moon, Hereian. This is where our story begins.

See, Orlon is no ordinary planet. Sure, it may seem normal, unless you think of a high terrascore as being "rare." But in fact, this particular planet is about to become the home of a new alien species.

Trapped in the icy outskirts of the star system, a meteoroid is tugged on by Ceialoa's strong gravitational force. The frozen rock has been long dormant since joining the collection of comets, asteroids and other remnants of the star's violent birth. Now, gravity is pulling it closer and closer in, becoming ever stronger on it.

As gravity constantly increases, so does an object's speed. Eventually, the meteor is sent careening towards the yellow star, and gaining fast. It passes Didemoe, its course being redirected by the gas giant's pull. It soon advances past Nause and Athysson, growing nearer and nearer to Ceialoa.

But just as the rock is about to be destroyed, Orlon completes its cycle around Ceialoa. This put it on a new collision path - with planet Orlon.

Like most natural satellites, Hereian could have interrupted the meteoroid's path, but it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead, the rock enters Orlon's thick atmosphere, catching fire quickly. It zooms through the morning sky, going unnoticed by sleeping creatures below...until...

CRASH! KA-_BOOM!_

The thundering sound of the meteorite's impact immediately woke those creatures. Startled and afraid, they began to flee in the opposite direction. The impact threw up dust and meteor chunks, the latter which rained down and injured many of the fleeing creatures, not to mention starting several fires. Many of the meteors fell into the ocean instead, causing sea-faring creatures to scatter.

One tiny, forgotten shard plopped into the water. After breaking the surface tension, it sank down, deeper and deeper into the dark, blue sea. Carried by the currents, it was brought up from the deep and finally entered the shallower water near the sandy shore. As it gently came to rest there, for a few long seconds, everything was calm. Then...

CRACK!

The shard suddenly wobbled and shook, creating ripples in the water. Something was trying to break its way out from the inside.

CRACK-CRACK!

Several fractures began to form in the rock, which couldn't take the strain for long. With a final crack and a pop, the meteor broke apart, revealing a small, black cell in the middle. It blinked its one green eye and moved it around, taking a look at its surroundings. Its flagella undulated slowly, stablizing the cell in the water. It opened its mouth and let out a tiny roar of triumph.

Yes, the Noog have landed.

* * *

**And so it begins...**

**BTW, Noog is the actual name of a Maxis-made cell species that you can start out with at the beginning of the game. Almost all the cells (and plants) in this story will be Maxis-made, but all the creatures in later chapters belong to _me._**

_**Next time on Planet Orlon...**_

_**We follow Noog as she learns to survive in this strange new world, and watch her species evolve for the first time!**_

**See you in a week!**


	2. Spikes

**...Or maybe I should have said, "see you in like three days." I got this chapter done pretty early, but I decided to base the chapters on the 5 "levels" of the cell stage: the spike level, jet level, cilia level, electric level, and beach level. Check out the Spore Wiki for help.**

**And now for the first _real_ chapter...**

* * *

The first thing she remembered after waking up was darkness.

She tried to look around, but her eye was useless without light. She could still feel, though, and felt many hard, rock-like structures jutting out from all around her. They restricted her movement.

She was trapped.

That is the moment she felt the primal need to escape. She shoved her body against the walls, and the rock, softened by water, easily gave way. Cracks began to form; eventually, the stone broke apart with a pop.

Sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding her. She blinked against the light as her eye adjusted, and the first place she looked was down. The remains of her prison, a meteor shard with sparkling crystals inside, slowly sank down beyond the line of her sight. Recognizing this accomplishment, she let out a high-pitched roar, triumphant.

In the light, her true form was visible. She had a rounded body, with a small head and tail stub at the ends. Two flagella stuck out from either side of her body, and she had a filter mouth. She was black all over, except her mouth, flagella and cyclops-like eye, which had a dark green iris. She was the first Noog to set flagellum in planet Orlon's seas, but not the last.

The little Noog took a look at her surroundings. The water, at this microscopic level, was crystal clear. Floating nearby were air bubbles and translucent, six-sided crystals. Three identical creatures, with pink, spotted skin, cyndrilical bodies and five beady eyes along them, but with pink irises, gathered nearby. They swam with a single flagellum, darting back and forth for green plant buds, which they proceeded to suck up and digest.

The Noog observed this behavior with interest, before she heard a familiar chattering and became distracted. It sounded like a male of her species.

She instictively called out to him, following the sound of his reply. When she was close enough to see him, she swam over to the identical male cell, purring happily. They both spun around in a mating ritual before kissing each other, and the female cell laid her fertilized egg and swam away, her work done.

After she was long gone, the male proceeded to swim closer to the egg. It pulsated with life, as the new cell's molecules were being copied and arranged...

* * *

The new cell, a female, popped out of her egg. She was alone now; the male had left before she hatched, watching her for only a few seconds before swimming off to breed some more. The species itself didn't change or evolve at all - there was nothing to change.

The new Noog looked around, and saw more of those pink creatures. She identified them as "Minno" from her past life, and saw them feeding on plant buds. This sparked her interest, and she felt a primal desire.

She was hungry.

Copying the five-eyed cells, she quickly swam up to a green plant bud, tasting it with her simple mouth parts. Liking the taste, she didn't hesitate to gulp it down, absorbing the nutrients inside of her body. This is when she discovered the good feeling of fullness - satisfaction.

The Noog felt something else after the food was taken in and digested, but she couldn't place quite what it was. She didn't think about it for long, though; the hunger returned, and she swam off to find more food. Just out of curiosity, she licked a red meat chunk, afterwards spitting it out in disgust.

After her sixth plant bud, Noog suddenly grew in size, twice as big as she was before. Excited to be growing bigger, she continued to eat more and more. Finally, on her tenth plant bud, she felt herself grow even larger, until she was on a completely different dimensional plane in the water.

Her species was becoming stronger.

The water looked the same as before, but the Noog was now much bigger than the Minno, and the Minno were slightly quicker than the Noog. This moment of evolutionary accomplishment was short-lived, however; with this change brought new, carnivorous cells.

Noog saw a cell with gold spotted skin, and a patch of light red running down its back. It had seven flagella, rounded jaws and two orange eyes. Called "Goldy," it swam up to the now tiny Minno, crunching its jaws down on it. After it finished chewing, it turned to Noog and snarled, obviously still hungry.

Terrified, Noog decided to flee for her life, prompting the Goldy to chase her. It eventually got bored of chasing and ran after another Minno, letting her go free. Glad to have survived, and thankful for the Goldy's short attention span, she realized her species would need to get some protection from predators like that.

She began munching on some plant buds, taking her cellular mind off of the subject. After the next bud, however, she saw something strange happening in the distance.

A reddish-brown cell with armored skin, called a Pokey, sat completely still in the water. It had two pairs of tiny, brown eyes, as well as two pairs of flagella. Its mouth lied in between a pair of large, sharp spikes that protected its head. It was motionless in fear, and Noog soon understood why.

Another, much larger cell, known as a Chomper, slowly approached the paralyzed Pokey. It had black, snowflake-patterned skin. It undulated its five flagella, glaring the herbivore down with three pairs of beady eyes. The hungry Chomper snapped its jaws once, then lunged at the Pokey, chomping it down in one bite, spikes and all.

When the hunter had left, Noog cautiously approached the aftermath. A leftover, forgotten spike, sparkling in the sunlight, caught her attention. She couldn't help but swim closer, as if it was meant to be hers.

As she touched the spike cell part, she felt the genetic plans for that part surge into her body. She let out a happy cry; she wasn't sure what it meant, but she had the feeling it was time to procreate. She continued to eat more plant buds, wanting to be nourished when she laid her first egg. When she had eaten three buds and grown twice as large, she called out to her mate.

Just then, the Chomper who had killed the Pokey ambled along, and Noog let herself get a bit too close. It spotted her immediately and gave chase, prompting the cell to swim away as fast as she could. The Chomper was gaining fast, though, and its jaws were just inches from her tail. She called out to her mate in vain, hoping she would get to him in time. She could hear him and see him, and she was so close...

Then, the Chomper's jaws finally snapped down onto her body.

* * *

Somewhere else, a Noog egg hatched, and the young Noog that came out suddenly knew the threat that Chompers posed. The species' try at mating was rudely inturrupted, and the new female would not let that happen again. Completing her past life's wish, she preformed a mating call, and sure enough, a male Noog paddled his way towards the female Noog.

Happy to see another one of their kind that wasn't Chomper bait, the female and male preformed the mating ritual quickly. They kissed, she laid the egg, and they both parted ways. With several Goldy swimming nearby, it was only a matter of time before the egg would be eaten. The cell was developing fast, though, and none of those carnivores seemed to care for the small pickings.

A while later, the egg finally hatched, and out of it was a creature never seen before.

She looked just like her mother and father, but this cell had a spike sticking out of its tail stub. To coexist with this planet's harsh predators, the Noog had activated the dormant genetic codes for a defensive weapon, cleverly placed so that any creature chasing behind them would get a mouthful of spike. Now, the species could defend itself.

It had evolved for the better.

* * *

Meanwhile, another cell had emerged from a meteor shard. It was a different species, however; not a Noog, but a Glarg - a pale orange cell with one flagellum and stalk eyes. This cell was also riding the meteor when it entered Orlon's atmosphere, sharing the same ocean-going shards as the Noog did. It had also tapped into the secrets of the spike by now, and the resulting offspring sported a pair of spikes that pointed backwards on their lower torsos.

Now able to defend their species, the new Glarg spread out, ready to advance to the next evolutionary level...before their competition did.

* * *

**And so it begins...again.**

_**Next time on Planet Orlon...**_

_**The Noog and the Glarg go on parallel adventures as they evolve, neither one knowing of the other's existence.**_

**Once again, I'm expecting another chapter done in a week or less. Later!**


	3. Jets

**Alright, I'm back! Sorry for the delay, but between homeschool and my other stories, I got a little preoccupied. Also, I was just being lazy. :P**

_**Fun Fact: the Cell Stage is often the shortest stage of Spore (only taking a few minutes to complete), but the time between each evolution is put down in billions of years, just like in real life.**_

**Therefore, because of the above, I can now garentee that this will be a somewhat short story. I'm planning on writing just four or five short chapters max (not counting Prologue and Epilogue).**

**So without furthur ado...**

* * *

The next level of development wasn't any easier for the cells.

When Noog had eaten a few more plant buds, her species went through another growth spurt, arriving on the next dimentional plane. This changed the water a darker shade of blue; the occasional epic cell could be seen in the background. Crystals were replaced by various debris, and plant buds became more advanced in design.

In short, the world altogether became more advanced, and with it came more advanced cells.

Goldy were small, and posed no threat to Noog. Chompers went from predator- to peer-sized cells, which now moved at the same speed as she did and still threatened her species. They weren't as big a threat, however, as the other cells she would soon encounter.

Left hungry from her recent evolution, Noog, immediately started to suck up any plant buds she could find. It wasn't long before she encountered the docile Shyster, which were orange cells with reddish-orange stripes running down their backsides. Along with the eight flagella and two pairs of eyes, they owned a filter mouth that she had never seen before. They were definately added competition for food, but Noog didn't mind that. As long as they could coexist with her in peace.

She kept swimming and saw a giant Booster, but luckily, it didn't see her. Before it swam away from her sight, Noog saw that this cell had a jet, and this left her wondering how she could get the genetic codes for it. After another bud or two, she started to grow bigger, and that's when she swam straight into a hungry Chomper.

The first time, it managed to take a bite out of the Noog, causing her to recoil from the pain and spin through the water. But the second time, the Chomper aimed for the spike, and consequently was stabbed between the jaws, started bleeding, and swam away in fear. Noog was glad that the defense worked at least half of the time, and was amused at the Chomper's cowardly nature.

The trouble really started, however, when she met the Shyster's aggressive cousin - the Spiked Shyster. These cells are colored the same as the Shysters, and even had similar eyes and flagella. But they had bigger heads, which held five deadly spikes, the tallest one sticking out above their small jaws.

The very moment it came into her sight, the Spiked Shyster gave chase. Surprised by this cell's territorial behavior, Noog swam for her life, the carnivorous cell right on her tail. When it did catch up, her spike didn't have any effect - it just clashed against the Spiked Shyster's spike.

To make matters worse, the Spiked Shyster didn't give up. It was too stubborn to chase anything but the Noog, and though sometimes other Spiked Shyster would join the hunt, that original cell was still there. At this rate, one wrong turn and she was a goner. She quickly preformed a mating call, realizing it was the only thing that could save her now. Luckily, a male appeared, and she swam over to meet him just in the nick of time. The Spiked Shyster could no longer chase her, and swam off, grumbling to itself.

With the dangerous carnivore gone, the Noog mated and deposited her egg, waiting to see what their offspring would look like. And how they would handle dangerous carnivores.

* * *

The next generation of Noog looked very similar to the one before it. The only difference was another, smaller pair of spikes on either side of its tail, giving it extra protection. The new female, having just hatched, was hungry and started to feed. She eventually ate enough plant buds to make her species advance another dimension.

After completing her next big growth spurt, Noog spotted a Booster, which was now the same size as her, ram into a new herbivorous cell. It was a Grubby, a green cell with a strange set of eyes; three button eyes and one pair of stalk eyes. Their mouth had been split in two, so they could eat twice as many plant buds. The Booster chomped down on the Grubby, eventually killing it and eating the leftover meat chunks.

The Noog then realized something; if she could kill a Booster, then she would be able to get the jet part! Although it was against her species' nature, she decided it was best to go on the offensive for once. And she knew just how to do it.

She swam near enough to the Booster so that it would attack her. The carnivore couldn't resist, and that's when she whipped around and let him get poked by her spikes. But now, the frightened Booster turned right around and disappeared in a blast of water, at a speed much too fast for her to keep up.

Noog wasn't about to give up then. She just swam in the same direction the Booster left in, and kept swimming long after he was gone from her sight, until she found where it had stopped to rest. There it was, only half of its health still intact. One hit, and it would be done for. But as soon as the predator saw Noog, it seemed to forget all about the recent attack and kicked into hunting mode.

And just as his jaws were about to touch her skin, Noog swung her tail around and smacked him in the face, ending his life.

Amongst the meat chunks and cell blood, the shimmering jet part stood out the most to her. She touched it and cried out in triumph, ready to put those new genetic codes to use. Gobbling up a few plant buds to strengthen herself, she called out to a male Noog, mated and laid her fertilized egg.

* * *

The resulting Noog offspring looked very different from the last evolution. For starters, they had completely lost their flagella - they were traded in for a pair of jets - and only had one set of spikes near their mouths. On the upside, though, jets were a fast way to get around, and now the Noog could compete with other fast-moving plant-eaters, and dodge dangerous carnivores.

But the Glarg offspring had changed, too...

* * *

**Yes, I had to make some last-minute changes to this chapter's original idea. Sorry for any confusion, but this turned out better than the original one would have.**

**(P.S. If you need help with the cell species, check out the Spore Wiki)**

_**Next time on Planet Orlon:**_

_**We switch perspectives from the Noog to the Glarg, who have been doing some evolving of their own...**_


	4. Cilia

**Wow, was I really gone for A WHOLE MONTH this time?! Jeez...**

_**Really **_**sorry for the wait, guys, but I was focused on my other fanfic at the moment (So of course **_**then **_**I got writer's block and was stuck on it for the past thirty days). Luckily, I think this chapter turned out better than my previous expectations. You won't be disappointed! ...I hope.**

* * *

With a pop and a crack, another newborn cell emerged into the world.

She wasn't a Noog, however, but a Glarg...or she appeared to be, anyway. Her species had obviously evolved quite a bit; to be precise, her flagellum was replaced by a jet, and she now bore two head-spikes.

The Glarg took a good look at her surroundings. The water was now a deep blue, and seemed to be pulsating softly. The faint silhouettes of other cells could also be seen swimming below in the distance. A lone Shyster, now a lesser-evolved, prey-sized cell, swam closer to her, immediately darting away after catching a glimpse of the gigantic herbivore.

If the Glarg was intelligent enough to understand emotion, she would have been proud of her great size.

Hungry, the Glarg began to swim forward, her eyes darting back and forth trying to find something edible. She approached a large plant full of green, sprouting buds, and her eyes bulged out of their sockets with delight. Before she could take one, however, she saw a large, pink and spotted cell with long, tong-shaped jaws, three big eyes and three pairs of cilia as well as a wavy, whip-like flagellum - and obviously _it_ could see _her_. Known as a Punky, it stared her down angrily, about to move in for the kill.

The Glarg tried to defend herself, but the Punky managed to take a nip from the poor cell. She recoiled in shock, then turned right around and swam away in fear. Looking back to see if it was still chasing her, she accidentally bumped straight into an epic cell. It was a Stabber, with long jaws, five pairs of spikes, three flagella and a single pair of eyes, and it had reddish-orange, armor-like skin. Of course, this angered it, but the Glarg managed to make the turn in time and avoid its stabbing jaws.

Needless to say, the Glarg was scared witless by the whole ordeal, and kept swimming long after they were gone - accidentally spiking a small prey cell, a herbivorous peer cell and ramming four medium-sized bubbles with her spikes in the process. Finally, she managed to calm down enough to stop swimming and hide behind two pieces of round debris...when she spotted something odd.

Sparkling and shimmering brightly, a small meteor bit sat suspended in the water before her. The sparkling bit seemed to put the Glarg in a trance; she stared at it with wonder and curiosity. It was too small to hold a cell, but also too large to be completely empty. Either way, something was telling her she should break it.

Carefully, she came close enough to tap the meteor with her spikes, using her filter mouth to pry into it. The water had softened the stony covering; it broke apart easily, sinking into the murky depths. Left sparkling before the Glarg was the genetic codes for a new part: poison. She cried out triumphantly, ready to try it out.

As she was scrounging up a few plant buds to strengthen herself to mate, she was greeted by some Pinky, who immediately bolted past the former. They were like the smaller, plant-eating cousins of the Punky, that only had two pairs of cilia and no flagellum, and, of course, a filter mouth instead of jaws. The Glarg recognized their species as one of the cells she had stabbed by accident, but these Pinky didn't seem to be afraid of _her_...

The Glarg followed the fleeing Pinky's trail to find a quite unusual occurence happening - a cell fight. The surrounding cells had already fled the area, leaving the two enraged carnivores, a Punky and a Squirty, circling in the center of the carnage. The Squirty was a scaly, purple cell with two pairs of eyes, having a long, bottle-shaped snout and a poison-spitting part on its rear end. Its six flagella undulated rapidly as it prepared to strike its foe once again.

From what the Glarg could see, this fight had been going on for some time. As they clashed jaws together, neither seemed to be able to gain the advantage, and neither seemed to be dealing any damage towards the other. Until she noticed how much effort this was taking from the Pinky: as the Squirty thrashed around, trying to get past the Pinky's defenses, it inadvertently created a cloud of poison. Able to fight no longer, the Pinky coughed and sputtered from the noxious substance before flipping over onto its backside, dead.

Claiming its prize, the Squirty moved in and bit into the Pinky's membrane, spilling out the contents inside. The Glarg wasn't at all interested in the three meat chunks that the Squirty began to devour, but instead focused intently on the sparkling object within the cell carcass. As the pink clouds of blood cleared away, her eyes widened - it was _another _cell part!

The Squirty paid no attention to the beautiful new genetic codes, pretending as if they were completely nonexistent. Instead, the contented carnivore finished its meal and swam off. When the Glarg was sure it was gone, she came in for a closer look, and as she studied the part, she saw it was cilia. She once again cried out triumphantly as the wisdom to make such a part surged into her tiny body, giving her the primal desire to mate. The next cry she made was a mating call; soon enough, the egg was laid and the species' future was secured.

Her job was finally done.

* * *

When the new cell emerged into the world, she didn't look much different from the previous generations. In fact, if anything, she looked exactly the same...until she pumped her jet, releasing a hazy, purple cloud of poison into the water surrounding it. During evolution, the Glarg had to sacrifice a pair of cilia for poison, and the result was very promising. Now the species would have some extra protection, especially against the more armored carnivores, like the spiny Stabber.

The Glarg wasn't quite sure what to do; she thought she had gained all the genetic codes here. Although her species had grown during the evolution, now on a different dimensional plane with different cells, she couldn't think of any she had seen as predators before that had available parts. Close by, but not close enough to notice her, a Stabber darted around in the current as it tried to find a nibble.

At first, the Glarg simply sat and listened to the sound of the water, which was now a slightly lighter shade of blue, but still looked as though it was pulsating.

Then, without warning and straight out of the blue, a giant cell pushed forward, surprising the Glarg. It was a Ducky; a baby blue cell with two large stalk eyes, three flagella, and long, toothed jaws. It had two stripes running down the sides of its diamond-shaped body, and as the Glarg looked closer, she saw another cell trapped between its jaws. This was a Nosey, a light green cell with a small, slender head that held four eyes and a narrow probiscus, but a big, round body with six bottle-shaped jets, making it one of the fastest cells in the water. But even it could not escape from the Ducky's toothy jaws.

Finally, the Ducky slammed its jaws shut, crushing the Nosey. And as it did, the Glarg saw something like a bright sparkle flash inside them, and new genetic codes flew to the side. Before she could even think about grabbing them, though, she was already facing a hungry Ducky. She wasn't about to let it get in the way of her new part and immediately engaged the predator, first by squirting it with her jet in an attempt to poison it. But it was too large to be affected, expelling the venom, and she quickly switched to plan B - a spike attack, which resulted much better.

While the Ducky was shuddering and roaring with pain, it turned in a different direction and let the Glarg go. She gladly turned away as well and approached the sparkling, shimmering codes. This was her contribution to the species: a proboscis. Even though they might not get to use it, it still gave her a purpose in this life besides eating and mating.

Speaking of mating...

Swimming within close range happened to be another Glarg, this one a male. Before the female Glarg got the chance to greet it, she heard the unexpected sound of a large predator's jaw slamming together. For a second, she was frozen in confusion until a snapping jaw jumped out at her, forcing her to flee for her life. She bumped past some debris...and ran straight into another Ducky! This time she was not so lucky, and it managed to take a nip from her membrane, causing her to recoil and lose half of her health.

Desperate to escape, she gathered to strength to push away the large piece of debris blocking her exit and swam as fast as her jet could take her. The one Ducky that had started the chase was ready to end it, and would not give up its kill so quickly. Seeing her only chance - a current in her path - she turned as quick as she could and blasted herself in the same direction for a quick boost of speed.

Of course, it wasn't fast enough, and the Ducky was still after her. The current led her in between two other large pieces of debris, but the Ducky's jaws poked through them. There happened to be a plant bud right there in front of the Glarg, who did not hesitate to gulp it down and regain her health. For a long while, the chase went on, and the Ducky still showed no signs of tiring or getting bored. Finally, the Glarg could see she was starting to win the chase as the predator's jaws started to vanish from her sight. Sadly, the chase wasn't over then; as soon as she stopped to rest, being ruthless predator that it is, the Ducky came in from the side, ready to finish the job.

That was it; the Glarg had decided that enough was enough. She suddenly growled, turned around and rammed her spikes into the Ducky as hard as she could, causing it to scream in pain. At first, it seemed that the would-be predator had given up, but not a moment too soon, it came right back around...earning one more stab to the throat, courtesy of the Glarg. And this time, it got the message.

Just in case, the Glarg turned right around and swam in the opposite direction. She came to stop close to a very large plant, with juicy buds sprouting all around it. If her mouth could water, she'd be sitting in a pool of drool. When she spotted a hungry Stabber approaching, she only had to wave her jet in the air and give it some poison, which quickly deterred it. Several Stabbella, the herbivorous cousin of the Stabber with cilia instead of flagella and only three pairs of spikes, knew to stay away from her after that. The Glarg spent the rest of her time sucking plant buds. After about four buds, she doubled in size, and after ten buds, she quadrupled.

Her species had entered a new stage.

* * *

**And that's all for now! Hope this at least satisfied your hunger for Spore.**

**By the way, did you ever wonder why the main cell in each of my chapters is always called a "she" and never a "he?" Well, it has nothing to do with **_**my **_**gender (in fact, I prefer male characters over female characters any day). But let me ask you this: have you ever noticed when you play the game in the cell and creature stages that, after you press the mating call button, it's always YOU, not your mate, that lays the egg in the following cut scene? I have. **

**When I write a fanfic, I always make sure to do my research. It's that kind of attention to detail that makes the story so much better! **

_**Next Time on Planet Orlon:**_

**_When the Noog and the Glarg finally meet, it's adapt or die. Which species will come out on top?_**


	5. Adaptations

**Okay, second-to-last chapter is finally done! Wow, I was gone for longer than before. Sorry! I was _really_ focused working on my other stories. And then I got cut off from the internet for weeks on end. Why do I even bother apologizing anymore?!**

**When I finally started working on this chapter, I decided to finish the story as fast as I can so I can dedicate all my time to more important matters (as crazy as it sounds, Spore fanatics, there _are_ more important matters at the moment). So I merged the fourth level and fifth level of the cell stage (originally separate chapters) into one chapter as to wrap things up. **

**Now, all we have left is the epilogue!**

* * *

Noog hovered in the pulsating turquoise waters, which she had hatched out into not long ago. These waters were not as dark as the ones she had swum in her previous life, but still too dark to be anywhere close to shore; the occasional epic Megamouth could be seen pushing through the waters below. Cells that had once been her enemies – like the omnivorous Nosey and spiky Stabber – were now too small to hurt her, and predator cells – namely the stalk-eyed Ducky – were now peer-sized and easy to kill.

The only problems were the _new_ cells.

The Noog's past life had not been in these new waters for very long; she only came to mate and lay her egg. When the new Noog hatched, she had very little experience with most of these strange cells. Luckily, the last generation had changed her species' form a bit. They still carried their head spikes, but had only one jet on their tail stub instead of two, gaining a pair of cilia to balance it out. The latter evolution not only made them faster, but also enabled quick turns – very convenient for hasty escapes.

Noog began to search for food, darting to and fro with help from her new cilia. As she came to a medium-sized plant, however, she stopped short. Two rather unusual cells were already there, munching away blissfully, and thankfully unaware of Noog. Now, these were no ordinary herbivores she was facing; this was a Buzzy. They may look easy to approach at first sight, with their tiny mouths, small flagella and one large eye, but Noog could sense an electric field being emitted by their large, bulbous tails. If she were to go anywhere close to them, she would surely get shocked. Clearly not worth the risk, she was preparing to back away.

Then, in a sudden streak of luck, a cell, most likely a Ducky, charged into the two Buzzy seemingly out of the blue. As expected, the Ducky was zapped by the electric field surrounding the nearest one, being deterred from its would-be meal and shorting the unlucky Buzzy's electric cell part out. Noog couldn't believe it; this was her chance! She charged in a burst of jet-power and rammed into the helpless cell with her spikes, cutting it deep and knocking it backwards. As soon as it realized the danger of the situation, the poor Buzzy tried to escape, but its sorry excuse for flagella had nothing on the Noog's jet and cilia combo, earning itself another stab in the rear this time. It was killed immediately, leaving a few meat chunks and pool of cell blood – _and_ its beautiful electric cell part – behind.

The Noog grabbed the glistening cell part as quick as she could, letting out another triumphant squeak like she instinctively did every time she found a new part. She stopped squealing to notice another Noog, a male, ambling along nearby, having seen the whole thing, though he simply swam on and treated it as if it was nothing. The Noog species was becoming a rather common one nowadays...

Noog would have done a mating call right then and there, but when she turned to the plant she had been guarding, it was already empty of buds. The greedy Buzzy had eaten it all. She swam off unsatisfied, her mind set on finding food for evolution.

She dashed forward, still trying to get accustomed to her faster speed, when she saw a Buzzy, with tail newly charged, in her path. Noog dodged it with little difficulty – the cilia were yet again proving to be a wise investment – and managed to catch an uncharged Buzzy eat a bit of plant from the corner of her eye. That's when it hit her; where there are herbivores, there is food, and where there is food, there are bound to be herbivores. Or as any cell would call it, _competition_.

No problem for Noog.

As she continued swimming, she saw a different Buzzy ahead of her about to go for part of a plant. Acting quickly, the nimble Noog dashed by and snatched it in her filter mouth, prompting the Buzzy to go find food somewhere else. She still kept swimming, almost cocky about it, and ran straight into a nice-sized plant, covered in buds...and guarded by a large Buzzy. Not willing to take that risk, Noog turned around and headed towards a plant bit floating nearby, only to get the shock of her life **(pun intended!)** as she bumped into a small, charged Buzzy and that consequently sent a painful current of electricity through her body. Luckily, she managed to gobble up the plant bud in the midst of it all, regaining all the health she had lost in the second she had lost it!

Shaken up but not deterred, Noog stopped for a moment to notice that she had grown a bit in size, but still wasn't strong enough to mate and evolve, and so the search for food continued. At one point, she battered her way against a current, only to have an angry Ducky fly into her and get stabbed by her spikes. Other than that, everything that followed went pretty smoothly for the herbivore as she ate bud after bud, unaware that she was about to advance another level.

After another bud, she was surprised to find herself growing larger and larger, until she was in the next dimensional plane. Even more surprisingly, the water here was a much lighter shade of blue than it was before, and–

CLACK!

The small ripple that followed the sound of two jaws clacking together instantaneously put Noog into survival mode. She whipped around and stabbed the predator, a new peer-sized creature known as Jawhead, right between the cell's so-called "jaw-head" of name. It kept fighting, though, being stabbed twice in a row before doing any damage at all. The entire episode was over in a little over a second.

Although she had only gone through a large growth spurt, Noog found that the cells on this level in the water were even stranger than the ones on the last.

She looked around as the Jawhead's blood cleared away to see an epic cell turn in her direction, chomping down on the water with its relatively small jaws. It was the purple, ball-shaped, crater-skinned Puffish, having seven pairs of spikes total (with a gap in between) _and_ a poison gland, but only a single pair of flagella. It stared down the Noog with its beady eyes, moving in for lunch.

Noog wasn't going to just take this sitting down; she jabbed her much bigger opponent in the jaws with her trusty head-spikes, causing it to screech in pain. But it still didn't back down, and Noog continued to stab it repeadtedly. Once, twice, a third time...a fourth, and a fifth. She didn't stop, and amazingly, she was actually pushing the Puffish back at a great speed, until the monstrous predator could take no more, finally rolling onto its back, dead. Noog took a closer look, amazed at the sight. She had just _slayed an epic cell_, with barely any difficulty on her part.

As much as Noog wanted to stay and guard her prize (which was strange, considering that she was an herbivore), she was hungry. She felt the desire to mate as well, and she naturally knew the two needs were connected. Leaving the dead cell alone, she swam off to find food...and a mate.

* * *

The next Noog hatched from her egg into a strange world...and an even stranger discovery.

This Noog didn't look any different from her most recent ancestor on the outside, but in fact, she had evolved a hidden poison gland, tucked away safely inside of her jet. Her recent growth spurt had brought her to the final level, closer to the beach; although epic cells would sometime block the view of the waters below, sand clouds and shells were visible near the bottom.

The "strange world" was the final stage of development, with cells that could have definitely been counted as "strange" – speedy Jetster, giant but gentle Maa. But the "even stranger discovery"...was the Glarg.

Here's how it happened.

As she darted back and forth, gulping down plant buds here and there, Noog noticed a strange, rounded shape dart through her peripheral vision. She froze, and quickly moved her eye towards the curious shape; floating not too far away was a pale orange cell with an almost teardrop-shaped body and stalk eyes, and from the looks of its mouth, it was an herbivore. This wouldn't have been too unusual – meeting a new cell species, especially in _this_ stage – but there was something about this particular cell that was perplexing to the Noog. Actually, more than something – _everything_.

For starters, it looked a little too...disorderly to be natural. Noog studied the cell, noting all of its parts. She identified its species as...Glarg. A rather unusual name, just as unusual as Noog's, if not more so. This cell happened to have cilia, head-spikes, and a jet in relatively the same positions on its body as the Noog. Poison was being pumped out of its jet by a hidden poison gland, and...

Wait...a hidden poison gland?! No cell alive could have evolved that by natural means! It was now clear to Noog; this was not a native cell, but an _alien_ cell, one that hitched a ride on that frozen meteoroid alongside her species, touching down on a different beach somewhere close by. The Glarg had obviously realized this as well; the two feuding cells were now locked in a staring contest, demanding an answer to their questions.

Then, silently, they acknowledged the other's existence and went their separate ways.

Why not kill the other cell? Why leave as if it was worthless?

Because if there was one of them, there were likely more. No single cell could just evolve all the way up here on it's own; it had to reproduce. Killing one cell alone would be like killing one bee in a swarm of thousands – it didn't make a difference.

Though Noog couldn't understand this reason behind her hesitation, her instincts did.

And they also told her to evolve.

After that incident, she automatically gulped down every plant bud she could see, running into few problems on the way. When enough buds were consumed, she once again felt a growth spurt coming on, and it took her to the last plane in the water; the final obstacle. Without bothering to look around, she belted out in a mating call and ran up to a responding male who was ready to reproduce with her.

The new egg pulsed with life, evolving to be better and more successful than every generation before.

* * *

The new Noog – about to become the final Noog – hatched out into clear, shallow waters. They weren't shallow to _her_, of course, but the sandy beach with scattered shells was visible below, and epic cells were very rarely seen. She swiveled her eye around to her backside; on her tail where her jet used to be was an electric cell part, sparking and glowing brightly against her black cell membrane, which was now considered skin. On top of that, her cilia had been moved farther up her body, and on her lower torso were two small pairs of flagella. Like many of her preceeding generations, she still had her trusty head-spikes.

Unlike her preceeding generations, Noog didn't have to hesitate for long. Her eye rolled around, quickly surveying her surroundings as if she's done it a thousand times; to her left, floating next to a small, twisted shell, was a tiny, five-armed plant, the kind that her ancestors had eaten. Her cilia and flagella moved in perfectly imperfect harmony as she swam forward, gulping the plant down. No sooner than she did than she spotted another plant not too far away, and paddled over to gulp _that_ one down. When she had approached and eaten the plant, she looked up to see...herself.

Well, in reality, she was seeing another female Noog just like her. The other female acknowledged her sister and swam off, but not before the original Noog got a good look at her species. She would have liked what she saw – a species that had evolved so orderly, and yet so disorderly at the same time; a species that was the very definition of adaptation.

But then again, that's what she saw in the Glarg...

Noog shook her head and refocused on her current mission – eating and mating. Though she didn't think she needed to evolve anymore, she _did_ need to reproduce and keep her species alive like any other cell did. Besides, her electric cell part proved to be a useful adaptation more than a few times.

Soon after Noog left to suck down another small plant, a Paa suddenly darted right past it. The Paa were rumored to be the Maa's carnivorous male counterpart, not only because they looked similar to _each other_, but also because the offspring of the Maa, called Junior, looked so strikingly similar to the Paa. They had two pairs of eyes – one of them stalk eyes and the other beady eyes – just like Maa did. Unlike the herbivorous females, however, they had thick, toothy, green-spotted jaws and a blue body covered in tiny, pale-green spots; they also had two flagella instead of one and a stout jet placed on their tail. Startled by the Paa, Noog shut her eye tight and bumped him with her electric cell part, causing him to groan in pain. He didn't stick around for more; immediately, he darted away as quick as he could.

But then, as the Noog looked around for more tiny plants, another more dangerous carnivorous cell spotted her and seemed to sneer through its five horrible, toothed jaws. Its crimson skin was covered in calluses, it had seven spikes attached to its sides and back, and held only a single pair of flagella, yet somehow, it swam as fast as she did. The armored, tank-like carnivore, respectively titled Megamouth, charged at the Noog with a snap of its jaws and a roar, it's ten beady eyes narrowing. Of course, Noog spun around and whacked it with her tail, sending a powerful shock of electricity through it, before fleeing from the terrifyingly-deadly predator.

Unlike the Paa, the Megamouth didn't give up the hunt so easily. It continued chasing Noog even while electric currents still coursed through its body. For a short moment, as its jaws came close to touching her uncharged electric cell part, she was defenseless against it. However, the Noog's electric part was more advanced than the electric part of a Buzzy; it took only seconds for her electric tail to charge back up again, sending a lethal surge of electricity through the doomed hunter. Megamouth were very persistent, but against the Noog, this was a fatal trait to have.

Feeling secure knowing that she had a trustworthy defense, Noog kept looking for plants to eat. With her sparky electric tail, she had almost no predators to fear. The cells in these waters had grown cocky of their superior size, but Noog had grown even cockier. The only two cells she should have been wary of were both predators; the fat, green Bloato, with its many button eyes and spine-like cilia, and the scaly, orange-pinkish Snorf, with three eyes, six pairs of flagella and bottle-nosed jet. And even then, Noog's head-spikes and electric tail could still deal damage to them, not to mention she had both flagella and cilia for a quick getaway, so danger to her species was virtually nonexistent.

The time after was fairly uneventful; Noog swam fearlessly along the beach, sucking up any plants she could see and ignoring predators. She had little competition, she was rarely attacked, and the rare attacks were always brief. She had reached a point where she thought her species couldn't evolve any better...

...But she was proven wrong.

After gulping down just two more plants, she suddenly froze in place, her flagella and cilia seemingly paralyzed. Drifting to a stop, Noog was distracted by a change occurring in her head, in the area right behind her eye. It was a nagging feeling of growth, as if something was developing there. The feeling grew stronger – too strong – and Noog squirmed in place, confused and uncomfortable, as her eye shut tight. Finally...

POP!

Just like that, the strange sensation was gone, but its product – a primitive brain – was here to stay. Noog shouted with joy when she understood what had happened and why it did, but not from the realization. It was because she had just _understood something _for once in her many lives.

She was on the path to sentience.

_...I...can...think, _she thought with some effort, the gears turning in her tiny head. _I can think! _ _I...I can evolve!_

Noog, now epic-sized and still growing, swam forward with pride, the now-smaller cells stopping what they were doing to stare at her in wonder. The epic, ascended cell almost seemed to glow, leaving a sparkling trail of golden light in her wake. Then, she came to a halt and turned right and left, glancing around at three black, familiar-looking cells closing in on her. These were other Noog, all of them young males, and the only other ones of their species to experience this newest evolutionary leap. They gazed hopefully at their new alpha, thinking in perfect unison with her.

The time for change was now.

The alpha Noog turned away, towards the sparkling surface above her. It seemed to glow as brightly as she did now that her priorities were clearer than ever. With her three companions following behind, she pushed on up, towards her one priority – her only priority. As she paddled closer to the light, she swore she could feel two tiny bumps growing under her lower torso, while a tingling feeling manifested within her chest.

With a splash, her head finally broke the surface tension.

* * *

**And that's the end of that chapter!**

**Sorry for getting you all excited about the Glarg's introduction to the Noog, only to have it be short-lived and anti-climatic. I guess cell rivalry isn't as easy or exciting to write as I had previously thought. Of course, they still have two whole stages' worth of time to battle...**

**By the way, a quick update. You should know that I have switched from using Notepad to LibreOffice (my laptop didn't come with Microsoft Office), and I have not regretted it. **

**Oh, and...remember what I said about most of the Spore creatures in the upcoming stories mostly being mine? Well, FORGET I said that. I realized that I had to switch to using Maxis-made creatures in the Noog's story of evolution, and those creatures _only_. My creatures will appear in around the tribe/civilization stage if at all, and when they appear in the creature stage, they won't be on the same continent as the Noog. Let's just say I can't have them becoming extinct too soon...**

**I guess we'll find out what happens to the Noog and the Glarg in the epilogue. This time, it won't take nearly as long to update. (Hopefully...)**


	6. Epilogue

**Well, that _didn't_ take very long, just as I predicted! Time to wrap up this story...**

* * *

The morning sun glistened off of the calm ocean waves, making the water's surface seem to shimmer. The waves were low, lapping quietly at the sandy beach, and the gentle breeze rustled through the green Lorcenneal trees. Ceialoa's intense light further brightened the light-blue sky, chasing away the clouds; there would be no rain or storms.

These were the perfect conditions for new life.

Then, something small and black poked out of the more shallow waters, bobbing on the waves. A closer look revealed that it was a large cell...no, a small _creature_, peeking her head above the surface. Any of us who had stayed long enough to see this moment, this glorious moment in her species' short history, would recognize her almost immediately. This was Noog, the tiny alien cell created in the icy outskirts of space, brought to life by Ceialoa's warmth, and conceived by a microscopic meteor bit.

She gasped through her primitive, yet functional, filter mouth, becoming the first of her species to take a breath of fresh surface air...but certainly not the last.

She shook her head quickly, trying to throw the water off of her dark, black-spotted skin. She chattered quietly as she rotated her head right and left, observing her new world through her dark-green cyclops-like eye. With her newly-developed lungs and improved vocal cords, she called out once...then twice more. It sent a message to all of her evolved kind:

_'__Come__...__we ha__s__ advanced!__' _

Three more tiny heads popped out of the water behind the alpha Noog as she swam towards the nearest shoreline, with her offspring following close behind. As they came into shallower water, the Noog revealed their greatest adaptation for living on land – a pair of Phatella legs attached to their lower torsos. They shuffled onto the sandy beach with simple, two-toed feet, leaving shallow footprints behind in the wet sand. Finally, the four fortunate creatures took their first steps onto the soft, green earth of planet Orlon, heading into the woods by the beach.

Under the protection of the tall forest trees, the four Noog gathered together in a small clearing in the undergrowth. The three male Noog centered around their alpha, who stood in the middle, and together they started patting the ground and kicking up straw, leaves and pebbles with their feet. In only a few minutes, they had crafted a small nest to call their home.

The males all chirped and screeched with delight, hopping around in celebration of their great accomplishment. The Alpha Noog in the center scrutinized the new nest with a critical eye, and pleased by her males' work, she nodded her head and chirped, _'Good, yes.'_

_'__Yes! Yes!' _The males echoed joyfully. _'It good!'_

The Alpha Noog smiled with her eyes (since she was unable to smile with her mouth). It was the beginning of a new day...and for Noog, a whole new strange and wondrous world. Air filled her lungs as she stretched into her limbs in her species' new home – dry land. The race to evolve has begun...

...But running a race is no fun without competition to race against.

Suddenly, there was a splash by the beach. All four Noog turned at the noise, wary of what had caused it, and the Alpha stepped out of the nest to get closer. When she first saw the creatures that had made the sound come out of the water, she couldn't believe her eye.

_No..._ she thought. _It can__not__ be...!_

Four small, pale-orange creatures waded onto the sandy beach, the first one bigger than the other three. These were none other than the Glarg, the Noog's mysterious rival that shared their meteor in deep space, crashing down on a different beach...and supposedly lost to the higher, land-going Noog. But now, here they stood on Brawnysaurus legs, surprised to see that their nest spot had been taken.

Slowly, they approached the nest that should have been theirs, being treated with distrust by the other male Noog. The Alpha Glarg and Alpha Noog were locked once again in an intense stare-off, their companions watching from a short distance.

The Alpha Noog finally spoke first. _'__Glarg advance...__how__?'_

_'__Not matter__,' _the Alpha Glarg replied. _ 'You take nest spot.__ Spot is Glarg's.'_

_'This Noog's nest,'_ the Alpha Noog defended._ '__Noog__ advance first, __Noog take nest__. Glarg no belong here.'_

The Alpha Glarg backed away. _'...__Understand. Glarg find new nest.'_

_'__G__o __now. Go in peace__.'_

With a reluctant nod, Glarg followed Noog's instructions and left her territory, heading North to find a new nest spot. Noog would have to keep a look-out for their species. She didn't like the Glarg, nor did she trust them, but she didn't hate them, either. If they originated from the same space-rock, then this would have made them sister species with the same primordial origins. Glarg knew this as well...and she felt the same way.

But it didn't matter. In the great race to evolve, there were no exceptions; the Glarg and Noog had to treat each other the same way they treated every other species – _as competition_. And to Noog, the Glarg were the ultimate competitor.

The Alpha Noog watched their sister species trot off until they were out of sight, and her mind began to shift to more domestic matters. Food, water, shelter, _mating_...hmm, mating on land? Taking a quick glance at the other males, Noog wondered with a growing curiosity how different that would be from mating in the water.

Apparently, not very different at all.

* * *

**And that's the end!**

**Well, It's been great. But like I said before, I have to focus on my other fanfics. Don't worry, I wouldn't leave this hanging on an empty sequel hook! I have a whole fan fic series planned for the Noog, and I'm not going back on my word now. The series will, however, be put on hiatus until further notice.**

**I'll be back someday, hopefully someday soon, but for now...peace out!**


End file.
